And what about everything *below* the window?

 

Hmmm... remember finding a short but sturdy post in a parking lot one time - Didn't see it through the window or in the mirrors, but I did find it in my Honda Pilot. Good point.

 

One interesting feature of the PDC is its integration with the stereo imaging of the radio. In my '12 R60, if an object is sensed only on the right rear quarter of the car, the beeping comes from only the right-side rear speakers.

I'm not real sure how useful that actually is since I have one eye on the rear view mirror and one on the Connected display. I think I'd sprain one of my ears if I tried to rely on the stereo imaging of the beeps!

 

beep. beep. beep. beep. beep beepbeepbeepbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

seriously though, I have used the visual indicaton to get a feel for how close things are a couple of times but only because I've not yet developed my Countryman-shaped proprioception.

ultimately neither the audio nor the visuals will convince me I'm a quarter inch from something until I'm used to driving the car and parallel parking.

so far my experience makes me feel like the countryman is significantly longer than it really is. I see a spot, park, get out and realize I had two feet more than I thought. Our other car (98 civic) is longer than the CM but is very familiar to me (i know where the corner of the trunk is in relation to the bumper extremes) and has also accumulated 14 years of parallel parking "wear", most of which were on the streets of Washington, DC.

Parallel parking the miata is... easier, but surprisingly it's only 6 inches shorter than the CM.

 

It's the height. It makes you think you're closer than you are. I'll bet if you lowered it you'd stop having those huge gaps.

 

sorry for cross model posting but do you guys know if i can retrofit pdc with visual feedback? i have a r56 cooper s with visual boost option. and I have a jcw bumper with PDC ready already, just wondering if this http://www.ecstuning.com/ES183905/ is the right part for me and does it allow me to activate the visual feedback too? or do i need other harnesses.

 

Thanks oda! I asked about aftermarket PDC in another thread and no one responded. I guess the dealer has to tweak the Connect software to enable it? Or are there some instructions that come along with it or are available as well?

 

Hi,
My Countryman is due to arrive next week and I have PDC and Visual Boost. Does anyone have this option and they get the image on their screen?

 

Here is the reply from ecstuning
Hello
* You would need the 66200415488 *& *66209252640, plus programming at dealership , if they can do it.Here is a link to the parts.Thank you.

+ link to cart <http://www.ecstuning.com/Cart/?add1=183905&qty1=1&add2=2228736&qty2=1&utm_source =JGusic&utm_medium=email&utm_content=link2cart&sal esrep=JGusic>

Guess it would be rather complicated than just a simply plug and play